For Adventurous, There`s Plenty Of Fun Nearby

Fishing, golf, horseback riding and miles of bicycle trails are the kinds of recreational bait that lure thousands of Chicago and suburban dwellers to faraway lakeside cabins and weekend resorts.

But for the residents of Lansing and Munster, the weekend fun is right around the corner--seven days a week.

How does a resident of Lansing or Munster enjoy himself? Let me list the ways.

After talking to Tony Ponziano, one could imagine that if the Lansing area were a lake, and leisure activities were fish, there would be enough lunkers to fill every angler`s limit.

Ponziano is a superintendent of the 700-plus acres of Cook County Forest Preserve virtually surrounding Lansing, part of the 22 forest preserves in Cook County`s southern reaches that he oversees. He also knows his fish, because the local hot spot, Wampum Lake, is just a few yards from his office door.

Wampum Lake`s 35 acres and 4,800 feet of shoreline are situated just west of Lansing off Thornton Lansing Road. Ponziano says it`s the perfect lake for catching panfish.

The Wampum shoreline is busy because boating and swimming are prohibited. If you live in Lansing or Munster and telling stories about the big one that got away isn`t your kettle of fish, a short drive can put you on the putting green of one of three well-known championship golf courses.

The forest preserve runs two of the courses, River Oaks in Calumet City and Burnham Golf Course in Burnham. River Oaks is the larger set of links, where golfers need to bring out the big woods and the long irons.

Munster-area pros and duffers alike flock to the Wicker Park Golf Course when the frost vanishes from the fairways. And if Ponziano`s acres constitute an enchanted forest, then it`s okay for Horace Mamala to call Wicker Park a Garden of Eden.

``There`s no park around here that has all the facilities we have,`` he says proudly.

Mamala, overseer of the park located off Indianapolis Boulevard in North Township, is in charge of a garden that contains a 6,200-yard, par-72 golf course; swimming pool; tennis courts; miniature golf course; batting cage; and an indoor pavilion that can hold 600 guests during a summer night`s wedding reception.

In winter, his garden is transformed into a wonderland featuring cross-country skiing and ice skating atop the ponds that spent the previous golf season swallowing errant tee shots.

For the adventurous who enjoy time off the beaten path and on the horse paths, the people at Glenwood Stables have the horses to take them there.

The stables, located west of Lansing on Glenwood Lansing Road, are home to about 40 horses and ponies and are open seven days a week, year-round.

Stablemate Shirley Freeman says part-time cowboys and cowgirls have more than 100 miles of forest preserve bridle paths and meadow lanes to test their ability.

``I`ve gone out for hours and still haven`t hit them all,`` she says.

Treks can last anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours. Group rates are available.

For those who prefer two wheels over four hooves, there are several miles of bike paths throughout the North Creek Woods Forest Preserve.

A series of paths linking North Creek to forest preserve land near Sauk Village should be completed within a year, Ponziano says. Another three miles of bike trails also is being planned for Lansing Woods.

As for team sports, the Lansing and Munster park departments provide lighted fields for sports ranging from 16-inch softball to soccer for 16-year- old players.

But not all the fun takes place in the great outdoors.

Some of the best non-intercollegiate basketball in basketball-crazy Indiana is played on Monday and Wednesday nights at Wilbur Wright Middle School in Munster. The school has one of the gyms that host the Munster men`s basketball league, says Carrie Karl, recreation department director. Karl says the league attracts many ex-college players and other ex-jocks who refuse to hang up their hightops.

Lansing residents automatically got the chance to become members of a local version of a posh health club when their park district opened the Eisenhower Fitness and Recreation Center March 4.

The center, at 2550 E. 178th St., was a public school before its recent $500,000 rennovation, says Bernard Clouser, park district superintendent.